The ultimate solution for fighting poverty in India was not mass production but production by the masses – Mahatma Gandhi

We have to apply the Gandhian model to solar-electrifying villages – Bunker Roy

Bunker Roy is the Founder and Director of Barefoot College. His dream was to establish a Rural College in India that was built by and exclusively for the poor.

How Barefoot is trying to solve the Electricity Crisis in India

The School trains Barefoot Engineers – people from Rural areas who don’t get Electricity.

This is done using color-coded parts and hands-on lessons. After six months at the peaceful campus in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, the new technicians return to their home villages, bringing with them solar power equipment and know-how.

They’ll install solar panels, charging stations, and small LED lights in houses, and they’ll stand ready to deal with breakdowns.

While these systems offer only the most basic amenities of modern life, they also bring independence from India’s dysfunctional national power grid.

The Barefoot College began its pioneering work to bring off-grid solar power to India’s villages in the 1990s.

The program initially enrolled men, but these students proved disinclined to return to their villages once they had marketable skills.

When the school began recruiting grandmothers instead, the program took off. This very literal campaign of rural empowerment shows the untapped potential of women.